My 13-year-old sister received a cryptic death threat over Myspace earlier today from someone who hacked her best friend’s Myspace page. Basically, it goes like this: (I removed specific names and locations)

What really struck a chord with me was my sister’s plea for her life she posted in a comment on the hacked page. I broke down crying, I was so worried for her. I brought this up to two good friends of mine who know computer hacking and reassured me that this was an amateur hacking job and a hollow threat by a harmless person. But I can’t stop worrying. I’m fearing the absolute worst right now. It could be someone doing it for laughs, but it could easily be a warning from someone with the desire to hurt my sister. Whoever this guy is, he knows my sister’s name, her school, her city, and grade. Even if it’s a joke, it’s still not good at all. If this continues, I will break the news to my parents and report it to the police, regardless of whether my sister wants it or not.

I pray to God that whoever this person is, he will never lay a hand on my sister. I know she’s scared, but she won’t show it. I am still worried out of my mind and I feel so helpless.

Unfortunately the hacker bully has already had some pleasure and reward from the fact that your sister replied in this distressed manner. This kind of internet bullying is intended to cause distress and even terror. Best not to feed this sort of unstable, unsocial internet bullying.
The person is a coward who gets pleasure from others’ discomfort. You need to ensure as quickly as possible that your sister receives care and protection, as much from her response as anything else.

I wish you and your sister and family God’s peace.
If possible ensure that she shows no distress to male or female peers, but looks to her family and wise advisors. I think you should also inform the police and bring the material to their notice. If this person is successful in terrorizing your sister he/she might move on to some other person. There is something pathetic about people behaving like the hacker, so one can only pray they will find mature outlets for their creativity and make a worthwhile contribution to society with thei internet skills. May God reveal and cure this person.

This actually sounds like a MySpace virus, and not specifically targeted at anyone in particular. However, it is important to inform MySpace administrators about this, but they probably already know about it and are working to resolve it. I’ve stopped using MySpace a while ago, because my account got hacked into several times, and they used my account to send spam to everyone on my friends list.

My dd was threatened on MySpace… I called the police. They told me to also call FBI… I emailed (through myspace) the girl and told her i had called police and FBI… and that her parents would be visited by law enforcement… and the one good thing I did… I took screen shots of the threat because she went in and deleted everything and took anything offensive off her site with the threat that mommy and daddy would see it. Made copies of the screen shots and dropped them off at the police station and emailed them to the FBI… I am a computer professional… I will not play games with jerks who threaten my family!

No idea if anything was ever done to the girl but she stopped bothering dd…